Canada Express Entry: How the Permanent Residence Pool Works
Express Entry is the online system Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada uses to manage applications for three economic programs. Creating a profile puts you in a pool if you meet one of those programs. It does not invite you, and it does not grant permanent residence. Rules and points can change. Read the current IRCC page for the program you are using. The pages below were checked through official IRCC text on 25 September 2026. Direct opens of canada.ca often fail, so any dollar figure that was not on a page opened that day is left out.
The three programs
The Federal Skilled Worker Program is for skilled workers with eligible experience in Canada or abroad. The Canadian Experience Class is for skilled workers with eligible Canadian work experience: at least one year, in the last three years, in a job at TEER 0, 1, 2, or 3, while you were allowed to work. The Federal Skilled Trades Program is for people qualified in a listed skilled trade, with two years of experience in the last five years, plus either a valid full-time job offer for at least one year or a certificate of qualification from a Canadian authority. All three say you must plan to live outside Quebec. Quebec selects its own skilled workers.
67 points is not your pool rank
If you meet the Federal Skilled Worker minimums, IRCC uses a selection grid. The program page says that 67 points or higher on that grid may let you submit a profile, and that a lower score means you do not qualify for that program. Those points cover factors such as work experience, education, and language. They are an eligibility gate.
The Comprehensive Ranking System is a different score. IRCC uses it to rank profiles that are already in the pool. Core points go up to 600. Additional points, for things such as a Canadian credential, a qualifying job offer, a provincial nomination, a sibling in Canada, or strong French, go up to another 600. The total is out of 1,200. A score of 67 on the Federal Skilled Worker grid is not a Comprehensive Ranking System score, and it is not the score of the last invitation round.
An invitation is a separate step
IRCC invites people who have one of the highest-ranking scores when it issues invitations. If you are invited, you can apply for permanent residence. If you are not invited, the profile is still only a profile. This article does not state a cutoff. Invitation rounds move, and a number from a past round is not a requirement written into the program. Category-based selection was not on the pages opened for this article, so it is not described.
Documents after you are invited
Language results and, where you need points or program eligibility for foreign education, an educational credential assessment are part of the file. Police certificates and a medical exam come when IRCC asks for them. Proof of funds is required for the Federal Skilled Worker and Federal Skilled Trades programs, and not in the same way for the Canadian Experience Class. What that evidence is, and why the dollar table is not copied here, is in proof of funds for visa applications.
